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Portland Center Stage JAW Festival

Portland Center Stage, The ArmoryIn residence starting July 17, Public Performances are July 28-30, 2017

Every summer, Portland Center Stage gets reminded about the vitality of this ever-changing, crazy fun, wild world of theater when JAW(short for Just Add Water) takes over the Armory. The festival welcomes a handful of playwrights, whose scripts are chosen from nearly 200 annual submissions, to spend two weeks collaborating with directors, dramaturgs, actors, and other theater professionals from across the nation. During these workshops, JAW playwrights get to hear, revise, and sometimes completely rewrite their plays in a supportive environment where their creative needs set the agenda. The festival culminates in a vibrant outpouring of artistic energy: staged readings of the JAW plays are presented to the public, while unique performances from local artists enliven our building and bring our community together.

Small Stepsby Briandaniel OglesbyFinally fed up with the bot-and-disappointment-filled world of online gay dating, Skip Powers volunteers to go to Mars. And NASA says, “You'll do.” This is a comedy that traverses 50 million miles and a million years.

The View UpStairs

The Lynne Redgrave TheaterFebruary 15 - May 21, 2017

Music, book and lyrics by Max VernonDirected by Scott EbersoldMusical Supervision and arrangements by James DobinsonChoreography by Albert BlackstoneScenic Design by Jason SherwoodCostume Design by Anita YavichLighting Design by Brian TovarSound Design by Justin Stasiw

The View UpStairs is a provocative new musical that pulls you inside the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant '70s gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. This forgotten community comes to life in all its gritty, glam rock glory when a young fashion designer from 2017 buys the abandoned space, setting off an exhilarating journey of seduction and self-exploration that spans two generations of queer history. Inspired by one of the most significant yet all-but-ignored attacks against the LGBTQ community, The View UpStairs examines what has been gained and lost in the fight for equality, and how the past can help guide us all through an uncertain future.

Miss Julie

Smith Street Stage​March 3, 2016

by August Strindberg

Featuring: Beth Ann Hopkins, Alex Hurt and Sevrin Anne Mason

Presented as part of Smith Street Stage's "Early Stages" presentation series. A contemporary look at late 19th-century drama that is an electrifying dance of opposing forces. On one side, we have Julie, socially privileged and emotionally needy. On the other, we have Jean, a humble valet with an earthy assurance. Julie sees dangerous animal sexuality in him, John sees ferocious upper-class authority in her.

The Gifts of the Magi

Based on stories by O.HenryBook by Mark St. GermainMusic by Randy CourtsLyrics by Randy Courts and Mark St. Germain

Performed by the Post Theatre Company

It is Christmas in New York, but for two poor, unemployed young lovers, it is no cause for celebration. A strange twist of fate leads the couple to find the perfect gifts for one another — but at an unexpected cost. Though they may not have the perfect Christmas, the couple learns about the importance of the gift of love in this beautiful adaptation of the story by O. Henry.

First Look Festival: Imperial Dreams

Classic Stage CompanyJune 2015

A trilogy by CHARLES L. MEEfreely adapted from the works of EURIPIDES

Charles L. Mee, one of America’s most venturesome and inventive playwrights, casts his antic gaze on the dramas of Euripides with adaptations of three major works: IPHIGENIA IN AULIS, THE TROJAN WOMEN and ORESTES, crafting them into a counter version to Homer’s Iliad. Each play of this trilogy can stand alone as an evening of theatre, but taken all together, will give a unique and coruscating look at the Trojan War.

Tickets can be purchase here.June 15: IPHIGENIA IN AULISJune 22: THE TROJAN WOMEN June 29: ORESTES